Super Saiyan
Super Saiyan is an advanced transformation assumed by extraordinarily powerful members of the Saiyan race in the Dragon Ball franchise, though there have also been occurrences of other races or individuals taking on their own versions of the form. Humans (of Saiyan heritage) in Dragon Ball Online can also assume the transformation by wishing to have their dormant Saiyan powers unlocked. The Super Saiyan form first premiered in April 1991, within chapter 317 of the Dragon Ball manga, entitled "Life or Death". It also made its anime debut in 1991, first appearing in Dragon Ball Z episode 95, "Transformed at Last". Within Dragon Ball Z, two further transformations, the second and third levels, succeed Super Saiyan, while the premier form also has three additional branch states, which include two ascensions and one that is a mastering of the basic Super Saiyan form. Dragon Ball GT introduced a fourth form, and there are two additional forms related to the Super Saiyan state that appear exclusively in the Dragon Ball Z films: Pseudo Super Saiyan and Legendary Super Saiyan. There are also a few Super Saiyan forms that appear exclusively in video games, like Legendary Super Saiyan 3, Super Mira, and Karoly's hybrid form. Legend The ability to become a Super Saiyan was once considered to be nothing but a legend, as it had not been performed for over one-thousand years. Vegeta stated that a Super Saiyan has achieved a level of power so overwhelming that it could only be maintained in a transformed state. Despite only being told through legend, Frieza, who has Saiyans in his army, became paranoid over the possibility of truth behind the legend due to the constantly growing power of the Saiyan race. Because of this fear, Frieza came to the conclusion that he must annihilate the Saiyan race by destroying Planet Vegeta, thus apparently sparking the end of the Super Saiyan legend. However, twenty-five years later, the Super Saiyan legend was proven to be true when Goku accomplished the feat during his titanic battle against the evil tyrant, Frieza. The Super Saiyan transformation comes in response to a need, not a desire. In all known cases, the form has been initially triggered by either desperation or indignation. Any other conditions are unknown, and motivation tends to differ; for example, Goku achieves the form out of anger over the murder of his best-friend Krillin and Bardock achieves the form out of anger after Chilled attacked a Plant child called Berry, while Vegeta achieves the form through sheer frustration at his original inability to achieve it, especially when Goku already had. While training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Goku informs Gohan that becoming a Super Saiyan is powered by rage and told him to imagine Cell and then Frieza (after Gohan stated he had never seen Cell) killing all his friends in order for him to transform into a Super Saiyan. As the Saiyans train during Dragon Ball Z, they discover uncharted levels beyond the first Super Saiyan level. The power increases of subsequent Super Saiyan forms are so high that by the Buu Saga, the original transformation has been literally reduced to that of a "child's play thing" (as stated by Vegeta; as both Goten and Trunks can transform and harness the power adeptly at such a young age). In the main series, all living Saiyan-blooded males after the Frieza Saga manage to reach at least the first level of Super Saiyan. No female Super Saiyans are ever seen in the Dragon Ball manga or animes. However, the Dragon Ball GT Perfect Files implies that Pan has the potential to transform and might have become a type of Super Saiyan never seen before. Female Super Saiyans have since appeared in video games, including Dragon Ball Online, Dragon Ball Heroes and Dragon Ball: Xenoverse. Usage and Power The Super Saiyan form multiplies the Saiyan's power level by 50x times its normal amount. The form was achieved by Goku after witnessing his best friend Krillin's death at the hands of Frieza. In this form, Goku's power grossly outclasses the evil tyrant's, a feat made more impressive by the fact that, prior to the transformation, Goku was no match for him, even with the Kaio-ken multiplying his power 20-fold. In order to combat Goku's sudden burst of strength and power, Frieza released all natural bodily inhibitions and utilized 100% of his power, only half of which he used to stop Goku's Kaio-ken x20 Kamehameha attack. Though he seemed to gain the upper hand while Goku holds back, he loses faith when he realizes that his attacks are no longer debilitating, with Goku merely shrugging off his most forceful blows. This is evident, because in his 100% final state, Frieza had gained power and speed, but also gained increased energy consumption to the point where his damaged body could no longer handle the amount of power he was controlling. Two years following the titanic battle on Namek, Future Trunks would arrive from the future already possessing the ability to transform, much to the astonishment of Vegeta and other present company, and effortlessly disposed of the synthetically restored Frieza, and his father, King Cold. Some time later, Vegeta also achieves the Super Saiyan transformation, mainly due to his belief that he had pushed himself to his utmost limits without actually transforming and due to seeing that Goku had achieved the form whilst he did not. By his own admission, it was anger at himself that triggered the intense emotion required to transform. He also noted, that he too possessed a pure heart, only one of pure evil as opposed to Goku's good. With this new power under his belt, Vegeta confronts and overcomes Android 19 and Dr. Gero, blithely killing #19 with the powerful Big Bang Attack. However, the Super Saiyan form truly put to the test when the true Androids of Future Trunks' grim prediction, Android 17 and Android 18, arrive. Super Saiyan Vegeta does battle with Android 18 until he is eventually overpowered and even has his arm-snapped by a fierce kick from the deadly beauty. Future Trunks jumps in on the battle, prompting #17 to intervene. The Androids easily defeat both Vegeta and Future Trunks' in their Super Saiyan forms along with the other Z Fighters; Future Trunks in particular being felled by a single blow from #17, as opposed to the trained Vegeta who withstood a much longer and abashing beating, signifying his superior strength.32 This power is noted by Kami as he brings up the topic of how Vegeta is now more powerful than Future Trunks, who "killed Frieza and his father in an instant. The limits of the Super Saiyan transformation were pushed even further with the introduction of Cell. With the basic Super Saiyan form now unable to combat the power of the Androids, Goku advises training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber because he believes that there is a way to ascend past the normal limitations of an untrained Super Saiyan, and in doing so would make them strong enough to take down the Androids. By the time Cell had reached his Perfect Form after absorbing both the Androids, Vegeta, Future Trunks, Goku, and Gohan had all spent time in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, advancing to new Super Saiyan forms. The Super Saiyan's standard output of power would be outclassed by the second and third stages. Unlike Vegeta and Future Trunks who made use of these stages (which either consumes one's energy rapidly and produce an increasingly higher level of strain, or reduce the Saiyan's speed to nil, with the latter doing both), Goku and Gohan work to perfect the initial transformation after deciding that it was the best form to use overall, prompting their transition into Super Saiyan Full Power, the concept of making the Super Saiyan form no different in energy output and strain than the basic form of the user's body. The initial transformation and its advanced grades are later rendered obsolete by the introduction of a far more powerful level, Super Saiyan 2 (which is the form used by Gohan to defeat Cell), followed by Goku's introduction of Super Saiyan 3 during the Majin Buu Saga, and finally, Super Saiyan 4, introduced in Dragon Ball GT. Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 are nothing more than powered-up variations of Super Saiyan.33 If the normal state and regular Super Saiyan form were to be fully mastered, it would increase its user's level more than the Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 forms, and would sap less energy. In the special chapter "Trunks The History - The Lone Warrior" and the television special Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks, Future Gohan is shown to have gained the Super Saiyan transformation long ago, most likely after witnessing the Z Fighters being slaughtered by the Androids. Therefore, Future Gohan may have assumed his transformation before his present timeline counterpart (by technically a matter of days), although he was far weaker because he was never trained by his father in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and never mastered the Super Saiyan form. After he is killed, we see Future Trunks transform for the first time (only in the anime, for Trunks seemed to already have attained the transformation rather recently in the original manga), thus showing his original transformation. Goten and Trunks, sons of Goku and Vegeta respectively, attain the ability to transform at a remarkably young age, again to widespread surprise from the main cast. (Goten, who was about a year younger than Trunks' age of eight, stated that his transformation was so long ago that he was unable to even remember it occurring.) Though their reasons for so easily transforming are never officially stated, the common theory is that it could have been the DNA inherited from their fathers' ability to transform already during their conception, supported by the fact that it took Gohan, who was also a child when he made his transformation, unbearable hardship to achieve (Gohan was born prior to the start of Dragon Ball Z, thus before his father's transformation). However, Vegeta did not have the ability to transform during Trunks' conception (which took place prior to the Androids' arrival), so this could be disputed. A possible reason for Goten's transformation is when he gets frustrated when being trained by his mother. It is then possible that seeing Goten as this and being his rival, Trunks followed suit, with his want to be better than Goten being his fuel. Their fusion form, Gotenks, seen late in Dragon Ball Z, easily gained the ability to transform into all three levels of Super Saiyan in the series within no more than a half-hour of training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber (although he has only ever been seen assuming the first and third forms, since he bypassed the second form to ascend to the third level), with the combined energies of Goten and Trunks balancing out the high ki consumption of the final transformation. In Future Trunks' case, he would have been conceived in the Alternate Timeline under very similar circumstances, although it is possible he was not conceived after Future Vegeta became a Super Saiyan, as the alternate counterpart's transformation was never shown. However, despite a younger Future Trunks being weaker than his child alternate counterpart, he was still able to transform at the age of 14 (making him either the youngest or second youngest Super Saiyan in the alternate timeline, depending on when Future Gohan transformed), although he was considerably weaker due to lack of training. During Goku's battle with Beerus as a Super Saiyan God, Goku dropped out of the form, but somehow managed to retain the strength of his Super Saiyan God form in his regular Super Saiyan form. This also caused his base state to become much stronger. Goku used the form to battle Beerus, and would later go on to use his Super Saiyan form during the Universe 6 and 7 Gods of Destruction Selection Martial Arts Competition, first using it against Frost. In the last episode of Dragon Ball GT, Goku and Vegeta's descendants, Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr., are shown to be able to transform into Super Saiyans from a young age, as well. Goku Jr.'s first transformation in particular was shown in the TV special Dragon Ball GT: A Hero's Legacy, aired at around the time that episode 40 was broadcast. This heavily contradicts the Daizenshuu books' explanation that Pan could not transform due to the minuscule percentage of Saiyan blood in her, as being a grandson of the already 1/4 Saiyan Pan would reduce his to no more than one sixteenth, making him almost completely human. Category:Transformations